<p>Your first post is theoretically correct but others have told me many programs overrun and still have not been cancelled. I don’t want to name the programs in open forum. Hence I’ve always thought defense spending is a form of stimulus.</p>
<p>The contract has ceiling but one program I’ve worked it cost the government 4 times it was bid. Finally was cancelled because the production price was too high. As for the FCS program the government person who worked for the Army told me that. I have to take her words for it because it’s not first hand knowledge.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle, that is just criminal. I want a tax refund! Very poor management. I hope some people lost their jobs on that.</p>
<p>Oh, and OP, I would think a PhD out of CalTech or UCLA would have a larger starting salary and a larger selection of jobs than someone from a random state university. However, it is very hard to get people to relocate, so local employers may prefer graduates of a local university, which to them would not be a random state university, but would be well dialed-in. There is no anonymity, really.</p>
<p>@jcjones42, just a lucky guess. Are you now out in Phoenix? Quite a change in scenery!</p>
<p>They did loose their jobs when the contract was not awarded or cancelled but never fired. But after 10 years of spending. I think of it as stimulus then I don’t feel so bad.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle I’m actually at the Tucson location in Arizona. </p>
<p>@ItsJustSchool A lucky guess? There’s around 15-20 Naval Surface Warfare Centers in the US. I’d say that’s a pretty good guess! And I’m in Tucson (about 2 hours away from Phoenix). It is quite a change of scenery! Especially since I’ve never been in the west before. </p>
<p>@jcjones42 luck favors a prepared mind.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon @ItsJustSchool
Keep in mind many state flagships are excellent engineering schools in their own right. Also note that just because a school like Caltech has a huge name brand does not mean that it is the best program in a given subfield, which is much more important at the PhD level. True, the big name schools have more big name researchers there so they are more likely to have more very strong research groups, but they are not the only means of being involved in an elite research group. Job prospects for PhDs largely depend, therefore, on who your advisor is every bit as much or more so than your pedigree.</p>
<p>Using starting salary as a measurement of occupational outcome is a bad idea as well. Not only is this highly regional and therefore not solely dependent on program quality, but it also doesn’t reflect the vastly different salaries associated with the different career paths for PhD engineers and scientists. An engineering postdoc, for example, is likely to pay between $50k and $80k while industry is more likely to start closer to $100k. An assistant professor might make $80k or so starting. However, a school that excels at producing professors is likely a “stronger” program but would skew lower on salary. A school located in Los Angeles will skew higher on salary than, say, Purdue due to regional cost of living.</p>
<p>If you want to evaluate PhD programs you have to do it in the context of your chosen subfield of study and your career goals.</p>
<p>I didn’t know Raytheon has a facility there. I’ve interned at the Sudburry location and the one in Fullerton made me a job offer right out of college. These locations were years ago so things must have changed</p>
<p>Hughes missile systems in Canoga Park moved to Tucson when RAY purchased (100 yrs ago!)</p>
<p>I thought it became Boeing. I guess not.</p>
<p>Boeing took over space and communications systems. Hughes became GM when the IRS forced the divesture from HHMI, about 10 years after Howard died. Later, GM divested, and EDSG, Radar Systems, SB Research, and Missile Systems became Raytheon. Malibu was jointly operated by all 3 (success story? I think not!) I don’t recall which other divisions went where, but it was Boeing and Raytheon.</p>
<p>Is it significantly easier to find research positions (not necessarily Post Doc) if you specialize in medical physics, condensed matter physics, over something like astro or particle?</p>